Gutman's Fee May Have Been Illegal

July 22, 1995|By FRED SCHULTE and JENNI BERGAL Staff Writers

State Sen. Alberto Gutman's role in the 1994 sale of a Miami HMO, for which he was paid a $500,000 fee, may have violated a state law that requires business brokers to have a real estate license, according to a state official.

Gutman, R-Miami, chairman of the Senate Health Care Committee, does not possess a Florida real estate license, state records show.

"This could violate the state statute," said Ed Towey, spokesman for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. "Only an investigation can determine this."

Citing state confidentiality statutes, Towey would not comment on whether the department was investigating Gutman.

Gutman's business dealings have come under scrutiny since the Sun-Sentinel disclosed last month that he accepted the $500,000 fee for his role in the sale of Max-A-Med Health Plans in Miami for $10 million in cash. The HMO was sold in November 1994 to a subsidiary of Physician Corporation of America, the state's largest Medicaid HMO operator.

Gutman obtained written permission from the Senate's general counsel before accepting the job. He said he used part of the $500,000 payment to enter the Medicaid HMO business outside Florida. He has not returned phone calls seeking comment on his business dealings, but has said in the past that he has severed all ties to the health care industry.

The state professional regulation department has the authority to investigate any transactions by unlicensed brokers and can refer violations to state attorneys for criminal prosecution. Violation of the law is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

News of Gutman's role in the HMO sale comes as the department is stepping up enforcement against unlicensed brokers.

"It is a department priority to aid in the prosecution of unlicensed activity, wherever it may be found," Towey said.

Gutman's attempts to collect consulting fees from the sale of Medicaid HMOs have already embroiled him in a state Medicaid fraud investigation. Investigators are reviewing allegations of enrollment fraud at St. John Medical Plans in Miami, an HMO that Gutman tried to help sell in 1994. Gutman sought a $583,000 fee for brokering the sale, but the deal fell through.

Earlier this week, the Sun-Sentinel reported that Gutman sought a $1 million fee to help arrange the sale of another Medicaid HMO, Community Medical Plan in Hallandale in 1994.

Although the Community sale did not go through, a director of the HMO discussed compensating Gutman because he feared Gutman might use his influence to block the sale to another company, according to meeting minutes.

Gutman's HMO ties also have drawn criticism from the state Democratic Party, which has demanded that he either return the $500,000 fee from the Max-A-Med deal or resign from the Senate. If he refuses, Democrats want Senate President Jim Scott, R-Fort Lauderdale, to remove him from the job as head of the powerful health committee.

"First he took a half-million dollars from an HMO his committee oversees, then he tried to broker an almost $600,000 deal with another HMO. Now this," said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Brady. "It's time for Senate President Jim Scott to stop mumbling that he's `looking into the matter' and act."